International Lecture: “Causes of the Economic Crises: What the Different Theories Have to Say”

Juan Carlos Cachanosky (PhD) spoke in Vienna in October 28th, 2015. The event, co-organized by the Austrian Economics Center and European Students for Liberty Vienna, focused on how different schools of economic thought view crises. Dr. Cachanosky described the views of Keynesianism, Monetarism, and Austrian Economics. Referring to Lionel Robbins, Cachanosky said that “we have to explain why so many people make great mistakes at the same time.” He concluded that it is not insufficient aggregate demand nor solely a problem in the money supply. Dr. Cachanosky claimed that economic crises are due to state interventions in the economy, for instance, manipulation of the interest rate. These send the wrong signals to the economic actors. The solution is to return to the classical liberal values of sound money, balanced bugets, and rule of law.